The Six Deadly Fears
by 3VAD127
Summary: Very short vignettes about each main character and what they are most afraid of. A collection of drabbles. Number six - Zuko. The intense pressure of trying to rule an entire country sometimes washed over his head like a tidal wave. Complete.
1. Aang

The third drabble I have written for this series. Conjured up in about five minutes at 1:00 in the morning.

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**Aang**

(_I know it looks easy, but in all reality, it's anything but…_)

His life.

Working as the Avatar was anything but a walk in the park—always the peace treaties, go here, sign this, placate these people, wipe out that rebellion.

He was in love, though—a very particular woman had stolen his heart. And, he liked to think, he stole the very breath out of her lungs right back.

(_I need you to think for a second…_)

Oh she was beautiful. Oh she was perfect. Smart. A talented bender. Had quite an attitude once you got her going. But what would the monks think if they saw him now…? He had taken a vow of chastity—never marry. But how could he not, when he was so obviously in love with this woman?

He remembered the day the monks had taken him to get his Airbending tattoos. He was but a child then, barely twelve, when usually the procedure was performed at fifteen or sixteen…

He bled for days after that.

And they left him alone in a room, assuming he was content to sit and lie about and stare at the wall, when in reality he was anything but.

(_All I wanted was a little company._)

His young, empty footsteps echoed morosely through the Temple—rotted vegetation clung to crumbling statues. The wind whipped around, sighing heavily into the ears of the earth; she groaned in response.

But nothing in the Temple responded. Nothing living there groaned back.

He scratched at the wall, and his hand came away black and sooty. Memoirs of a people long gone—of HIS people long gone—and how mind-numbingly lonely it was, being the very last Airbender.

And, Aang realized with a horrified shake of the head, he was more terrified of the loneliness than anything else.

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	2. Katara

Thank you anonymous, DragonKing, and kausingkayn. This is the fourth one I have written. And yes, they will be in alphabetical order.

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**Katara**

(_I'd never admit it… heck, I'd deny it, actually…_)

But she's more like a mom to their group than any of them have ever had.

Deceased. Banished. Smothering. Nonexistent.

She was the opposite of all these things—she stayed up with Sokka when he was sick (and ended up catching his stupid cold in the process), sat by Aang's bedside when he was comatose, and continued to take care of Toph even after she claimed her feet were fine.

But as long as she could remember, she had always had someone there with her. Her mother, then her father, her Gran-Gran and brother… Aang.

(_…I need people beside me, telling me they need me…_)

She fed on that. She LIVED for that. Friends to tell her they leaned on her, family to say they loved her. She couldn't live without it.

She remembered the day her father left. Her brittle young heart, still barely healing from the shock of the loss of her mom, could hardly understand why. She knew the logics, the statistics, but…

She didn't understand. If he loved her, why did he leave her all alone?

(_…I can't believe I'm saying this to you… but I need them more than they need me._)

Small footprints in the snow, tiny fingers clutching and grasping, bright blue eyes full of tears. Brown cheeks streaked with salty pathways of her sorrow. Don't leave me.

She had cried. So long. And she clutched onto Sokka as he wiped the tears from both of their eyes; gripping him tightly, she knew. She would never let go again. And silently, she thanked the Moon and Ocean Spirits that, even though they had taken away first her mother and now her father, they had at least had the kindness to leave her a brother to love and take care of.

Without them, she was nothing. She never wanted them to leave her.

Katara would never say anything, but she was desperately fearful of abandonment.

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	3. Sokka

Thank you Bdeogale Nigripes, kausingkayn, DragonKing, and Opaul. This is the very first oneshot - the thing that started it all. Once again, alphabetical order.

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**Sokka**

(_If I told you I was afraid of something… would you believe me?_)

Probably.

Through all his tough, macho manly-man act, he was still just a fifteen-year-old kid. A teen who had helped reinvent the war balloon, plan and execute a full-scale invasion of the Fire Nation, and help the Avatar bring peace and balance to the world.

Fifteen.

Would you believe that?

(_I'm gonna tell you something crazy…_)

So he was tough. So he was strong. So he loved swinging his heavy sword and boomerang around, pretending to be a leader and a protector and someone who actually knew what he was talking about all in one.

But, in all honesty, he was still just a kid.

A young six-year-old—far too young to have his heart broken in two—who watched as his mother died, and as flaming dragons' tongues leapt from the darkness and consumed his village.

He could never forget the smell of burning flesh, nor the knowledge of what lurked in the inky shadows of the unknown.

He was just a kid. Fifteen years old. Six years old.

(_…But I honestly can't remember my mother's face anymore._)

Because theirs were the only ones he saw when he tried to go back. Snarling lips, blood spatter, fire and water and soot covering the soft-white snow. Curling claws snatching things into the unknown.

He'd never tell anyone, but secretly, Sokka was afraid of the dark.

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	4. Suki

Thank you Opaul, Anon, Shinobi Bender, kausingkayn, Bdeogale Nigripes, and nutshak. These drabbles are still in alphabetical order. This is the fifth in a series of six.

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**Suki**

(_Ever since I was young, Kyoshi warriors were trained to be fearless…_)

And nothing had changed for her. Except…

There was one problem. No one in the world could be completely free of fear—not even the spirits. Tui and La. Wan Shi Tong. Perhaps even Koh himself. And if the spirits had things to fret about, then certainly a girl such as herself did, too.

(_…But no one ever told me it was going to be this difficult…_)

Being the leader of an elite group of female warriors wasn't easy. She had duties to herself, to her troupe, and also her way of life. She had duties to her people.

She fought because she had to. She wanted to. She NEEDED something to do with her life, something that drove her to be the best of the best. If she ever lost her will to fight, she had no doubt that she would also lose her very will to LIVE.

When she saw cocky new recruits strut in, it was her job to take them down a notch. When a girl was falling behind in katas, she took it upon herself to show her the correct way to throw a punch, twist in midair, or deflect an enemy's blow. Because it was her JOB.

She couldn't imagine someone else coming in and doing what she did. What she had with the warriors—and even with the Avatar's friends—was special. She needed them, and they needed her. Codependency.

(_…to shield myself from enemies far more powerful than mere Firebenders._)

She wouldn't be able to stand it if someone else came in and took her place. Those were HER warriors. HER friends. HER Sokka. How dare they try to take that away from her.

She needed them.

And Suki was a warrior—she dared not breathe her secret to a soul, but deep down inside, she just KNEW she was bound to be replaced by someone bigger, someone better, someone stronger than she could ever be.

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	5. Toph

Thank you Jaki, kausingkayn, nutshak, Shinobi Bender, ViolotQ, pancakes, and Opaul. Still alphabetical order. And this is the very last oneshot I have on my hard drive.

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**Toph**

(_No, wait, lemme guess… You're gonna tell me how lucky I am. How privileged I am._)

And maybe she was.

Before she joined Aang and the Gaang, she had parents who loved her—maybe a little too much—and everything she could ever want in life. And after she became one of the Avatar's bending sifus, she had friends that TRULY cared about her, and even a best friend that would do anything for her.

But it was a lot more complicated than that.

People in Gaoling—or Ba Sing Se, or Omashu, or wherever the heck they decided to be that day—would stop. And stare. And she could FEEL it. She just wanted to scream and yell and ask them why in the world they found her so freaking fascinating.

So she was blind. So what.

(_But there's more to it than that. Yeah, I've got money, friends, and kick-butt bending abilities…_)

Sometimes people asked her if it was tough being blind. Well, yes. And no.

She made up for it with her superior hearing and her Earthbending abilities. But sometimes… when things didn't work out the way they were supposed to… she felt scared.

When her cherished bond with the Earth was broken… or when the steady heartbeats of her friends suddenly vanished from her senses. Those were the times she HATED—the moments in life she tried the hardest to avoid.

(_…But I'm still just a person. And even I, the great Toph Beifong, have my own shortcomings._)

She felt familiar with these people—her friends. Their rising chests, beating hearts, slow respirations—those were the things that drove her. Those things were familiar and friendly, and they were her comfort zone.

The voices, the rustles, and everything else in the world was so good, so RIGHT, and she belonged there. And if she ever stopped and found herself alone with a slew of deep nothing, she would tilt her head and make a noise for herself. So at least she knew she was still alive.

Because if she ever lost her sounds, and she was left alone with The Silence, Toph had no doubt she would lose her mind.

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	6. Zuko

Thank you Bdeogale Nigripes, serendipity-surprise, Shinobi Bender, kausingkayn, ViolotQ, and Opaul. This is the second oneshot I wrote but the last to be posted.

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**Zuko**

(_I've always been privileged, but if you think my life has been easy, you are deluding yourself…_)

He was a hot-head. He was rugged and manly and rough-and-tumble, if not a little on the sensitive side if someone spoke of certain things. He loved feeding turtle-ducks and fighting with Firebending and defending his beloved nation even more.

Even at the young age of sixteen, he was a magnificent and benevolent firelord.

He didn't speak of it often, but sometimes the pressure of running an entire country at such a young age got to him. His knees felt weak and his chest ached—he was sure he was in over his head.

(_…I've always had to struggle and fight, and it's made me strong. It's made me who I am…_)

Oftentimes under such pressure, he would curl up under the sheets and grip them so tightly they would start smoking, and he would screw his face up and think of his mother and uncle and all of their times together on Ember Island, because he just wasn't READY for all this responsibility yet.

And then he remembered he had an entire country counting on him.

And he smoothed down his robes, stuck in his crown, and took his place on the throne, because he WAS the Firelord now and he WOULD help bring peace—along with the Avatar.

(_…But I have doubts, too—and I can't help but remember things._)

It was easy to remember the happy days of his family when he was having a relapse, and he often recalled things long-buried dormant in his memory. He was eight, and he could see he was feeding the turtle-ducks…

But Azula. A hand on his back, and suddenly his arms were flailing and his lungs were filling up with water while his clothes did absolutely NOTHING but act as 20 tons of bricks weighing him down…

It was so dishonorable to say such things… but Zuko was deathly afraid of drowning.

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End file.
